With our growing RPM package repository, we felt a need to create a web interface for the end-user to give him a glimpse of what actually lies inside the repository. Such an interface would let the users know about latest package additions/updates in the repository, provide information about each & every package that is in it, give the option to search for packages based on several parameters, and facilitate discussion on individual packages by other users too. Keeping all these things in mind, I started creating such an interface about a month ago using my already existing project MyBlog. So basically, this new interface is a website that contains information about each RPM in Granular’s repository, and more. We call it the Granular Package Archive.
Think of such as a system as the well-known Debian Package Archive or the Ubuntu Package Search. Granular Package Archive (GPA) was built from scratch, with the exception of MyBlog-like interface and discussion system. GPA is where two technologies combine to provide a very user-friendly interface to Granular’s repositories. I used the Java programming language to build the backend, and PHP to provide the actual website interface to the end-user.
Now before I get into the dirty details of behind-the-scenes working of GPA, let me quickly jot out all the features it has to offer:
- Information available for all the RPMs present in our repositories.
- Category-wise listing of RPMs on the front page. The categories are decided on the basis of groups to which packages belong to.
- Well detailed individual RPM pages.
- “Random Package” and “Latest Packages” on sidebar.
- Quite functional “package search”. Search is made on parameters – package name, packager, summary and description. Performing an empty search till list all the RPMs present in the repository.
- Anyone can leave comments on individual package pages. This makes up for detailed discussion on packages.
So, these were some quick features about the system. For details about the working of GPA, check out our follow-up post. Also, do not forget to check out how GPA feels like:
http://packages.granularproject.org/
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